Chapter 1125

KRRRCH!

At the ghastly sound of flesh tearing, the Blood Lord felt as though the world had stopped.

Ah.

Hot. Distant.

His vision wavered. The noise around him seemed impossibly far away.

Everything felt so unfamiliar that he wondered if all that had happened until now had been a dream.

If not for the terrible heat scorching his flesh and bones, he might truly have believed it.

No.

If not for the face he could see beyond the acrid smoke and shimmering haze of the flames.

Cough.

Fresh blood spilled past his lips.

Through pain so fierce it turned his vision white, the Blood Lord coughed up blood mixed with bits of his innards and looked at the young man before him.

The reckless young moth, now joined to him by a single spear.

He parted his blood-soaked lips.

“How?”

It was a short question, but there was much behind the genuine confusion in his eyes. Jin Taekyung answered.

“I don’t know either.”

“What?”

“I just… knew. It felt natural.”

His voice astonishingly calm, Jin Taekyung went on.

“Every move you’d make. And what I had to do.”

“……!”

“That’s all.”

The Blood Lord’s eyes widened before he even realized it.

Because of the pain burning through him?

No.

The accursed spearhead had pierced his palm and driven deep into his body, spreading heat through him. Compared to the shock he felt now, that was nothing.

He knew? Everything I’d do?

A moment ago, he would have scoffed at such absurd words.

His power had grown beyond its limits, and the gulf between them was so vast that even the word possibility had become meaningless.

But—

He isn’t lying. He isn’t boasting.

The moment their eyes met, the Blood Lord understood instinctively.

A truth unbearably cruel to him.

And the fact that he had been trying desperately to deny it.

“So there was no point in asking in the first place.”

“Yeah.”

Jin Taekyung gave a small nod, then added faintly,

“At least in that moment, I was stronger than you.”

Hearing his enemy say what he could no longer deny sent a shiver down the Blood Lord’s spine.

Countless emotions swept through him, overwhelming even the pain.

Bitter defeat. Fear of something he could not comprehend. And something entirely at odds with both.

Deep relief and joy.

With his whole body, he knew he had made the right choice.

Lord of Heaven, my revered master. Are you watching? Can you hear me?

The Blood Lord looked up. He whispered toward his own heaven, hidden behind the unceasing rain and dark clouds.

My choice was never wrong.

The truth was, anxiety had been stirring in a corner of his heart.

Unwavering loyalty was not the only reason he had decided to eliminate Jin Taekyung.

He’d been disappointed. Resentful.

His master seemed to spare no thought for the servants who gave their lives in his service.

And, absurdly, he’d been jealous of Jin Taekyung, who received something close to affection from that same master.

So he’d wanted to kill him.

He’d told himself he was removing an obstacle that kept standing in Dark Heaven’s way, hiding his reasons behind the word loyalty.

But now he no longer had to.

Here, today, Jin Taekyung had proved for himself why he had to die.

And die he would.

“Blazing Flame Divine Dragon Jin Taekyung. I’ll admit it. You deserve to be called a Divine Dragon.”

The Blood Lord whispered the words to Jin Taekyung without a trace of falsehood.

If anything, Divine Dragon seemed inadequate.

Even at death’s door, Jin Taekyung had fallen into a Trance and drawn closer to a higher enlightenment. Remembering it sent a chill through the Blood Lord.

“Yes, you were right. In that moment, you were terrifyingly strong. Strong enough that even I couldn’t stop you.”

He didn’t know what profound enlightenment Jin Taekyung had gained.

He didn’t know how he could fight so fiercely with his life hanging by a thread.

Or how a spearhead carrying no more than a handful of qi had broken through his formidable Force.

But—

“None of that matters.”

By then, the Blood Lord was smiling.

Wearing a bright smile no defeated man could have worn, he grasped the spearhead buried deep inside him.

The spearhead of White Flame, lodged a handspan from his heart.

Squish. Crack.

Blood burst out with a ghastly sound of tearing flesh.

The Blood Lord pulled the spearhead free with a hand wrapped in dense Palm Force and muttered,

“I thought I was dead. In that moment, I truly did.”

Jin Taekyung’s final attack, thrust with all his strength, had been a strike the Blood Lord could not have stopped.

If Jin Taekyung’s internal energy hadn’t run dry at just that moment—

If the spearhead hadn’t lost power and veered off course because of it—the Blood Lord would have died.

But he hadn’t.

This is Heaven’s will.

Joy welled up from deep within him.

The heavens above had chosen him, not Jin Taekyung.

Not that paltry heaven you believe in. This is the will of the true Heaven I serve!

At that moment, a lightning-like thrill made him forget his pain. The Blood Lord pulled his pierced hand free and twisted the spear shaft.

SHWIK—KRRRCH!

The shaft spun violently, its force impossible to resist.

White Flame snapped through the cloth its owner had tied tightly around it so he would not lose his beloved weapon. Then it tore free of Jin Taekyung’s grasp, leaving his hand covered in blood.

Splatter.

Unable to withstand the force, Jin Taekyung was driven backward. He fell, unable even to keep himself upright.

The Blood Lord stepped toward him without hesitation.

Or rather, he tried to.

Before he could, another Divine Dragon—one raised on the slopes of Huashan, not beside a pond—charged in with a roar.

“No!”

SHWAAAAK!

Sunset spread through the darkness. Force bloomed along the sword’s cracked blade and scattered into thirty-six petals.

The strike was beautiful enough to draw gasps from anyone who saw it.

But the desperation behind it was greater than ever, making it all the more heartbreaking.

FWOOM!

The blood-red Force that filled the space was strong enough to cut down not just the petals, but an entire forest.

KWA-BOOOOM!

The earth shook with a deafening crash.

Beyond a cloud of dust that even the pounding rain could not settle, a figure staggered upright and stood before the fallen Jin Taekyung.

Not one figure, but two.

“Where do you think you’re going? Cough.”

Jeok Cheongang and Cheongpung stood in his way again, both covered in blood. The Blood Lord’s red eyes darkened.

“Mount Beimang.”

He raised the spear that now belonged to him at an angle and added,

“Of course, you’re the ones going there.”

Hummm.

The spearhead, parted from its master, let out a sorrowful hum.

Shhhhh.

I stared blankly at the dark sky stretching beyond the endless rain.

This is Heaven’s will.

The Blood Lord’s voice still echoed in my ears.

Not that paltry heaven you believe in. This is the will of the true Heaven I serve!

Remembering the joy in those blood-red eyes, I muttered to myself,

Yeah. Maybe it is.

I’d done everything I could.

No—all of us had fought with everything we had.

Until there was nothing left to give.

Until I couldn’t even feel regret or anger.

But…

I never followed the will of Heaven.

Quietly, desperately, I struggled.

Squish.

With my crushed, broken hand, I gripped a clod of dark red earth mixed with blood as hard as I could and pushed myself up.

I had to. There was no other choice.

For the people even now collapsing, their blood scattering around them.

They were the paltry heaven the Blood Lord had mocked.

BOOM!

A fierce crack split the air.

Through my blurred vision, I saw Jeok Cheongang stagger and drop to one knee. Cheongpung was flung away like a cannonball and rolled across the ground.

And the monster, having torn down every obstacle in his way, came toward me.

Splash.

One step, then another.

His blood-red gaze grew clearer as the distance closed. I put every bit of strength I had into getting up.

Like a baby whose earliest movements I couldn’t remember, I rolled onto my front, planted my hands and knees on the ground, and somehow hauled my swaying body to its feet.

By then, the Blood Lord was close enough that his eyes seemed to burn red as the sun. The moment I met them—

Inventory open. Summon.

From the boundless storehouse granted to me alone in this vast world, I drew a finely sharpened dagger and thrust it forward.

At the same time, a low, mocking laugh reached my ears.

“As expected.”

Crack.

I felt no pain, but the sound told me enough.

The Blood Lord had caught my wrist in a flash and crushed it beyond any hope of recovery.

But he wasn’t the only one who could predict his opponent.

Slip. Tap.

Ignoring the pain erased by my final rally, I kicked the dagger’s hilt with my toe as it fell from my grasp.

Thud.

“……!”

With a cool, tearing sound, the dagger sank deep into flesh.

The Blood Lord’s eyes flew wide. He looked down at the blade buried in his shin and licked his lips.

“Impressive. Truly impressive. But that is why…”

Without a moment’s hesitation, he whipped his remaining leg like a lash.

“I can never let you live.”

KRRRCH!

White bone burst through mangled flesh.

Having crippled one of my arms and both my legs, the Blood Lord shot out a hand like lightning and seized my throat.

Crack.

Bones shifted, and my vision darkened.

As I gasped for breath, his low voice reached my ears.

“We’ve been bound by a long, ill-fated connection, Blazing Flame Divine Dragon Jin Taekyung.”

At that moment—

FWOOSH.

Like a last candle burning as a life flashed before it, my vision turned white even as it fell into pitch-black darkness.

No.

Perhaps the color was deeper and redder than sunset.

Slash.